My family and I recently had a one week stay in a one bedroom villa. We were in town for a family…read moreevent and traveling with a baby, so the extra amenities (i.e. full kitchen, washer/dryer, and overall space) that came with a villa (or DVC room) seemed necessary since this was going to be 'home' for one week. Although we've stayed at multiple of the WDW properties, the Boardwalk Villas did not disappoint. From the minute we stepped on site until we checked out, we truly felt taken care of. A 5-star stay, for sure. Disney's Boardwalk is an attraction in itself for those visiting the Walt Disney World Resort. Staying at the resort made it so much easier to enjoy it throughout the day. The mornings were nice for a walk or to grab a quick bite at The Deli. The evenings allowed easy access to the wonderful restaurants, quick bites such as corn dogs or pizza, or a tasty ice cream treat. The evening also had entertainment on the boardwalk giving it a nice feel of a lively atmosphere. The best part about it was that despite the busyness, as guests of the resort, the noise or people never seemed to affect us. We really just felt that we had so much to do and see as guests staying on this property. As mentioned above, we stayed on the Villa side of the resort and booked a one bedroom villa. We were a party of three adults with one baby. The bedroom had one king bed and the living room area had enough room for us to pull the murphy bed down the entire stay (queen size bed) and have a crib. We had no issues navigating around the room. The dining area left enough room for us to keep the seating the room came with and still add a high chair. The entry way to the villa had ample space for our large stroller so it wasn't in the way of anything or anyone while we were occupying the room. We had a full kitchen and laundry washer/dryer combo. This truly left us prepared and comfortable for the week we stayed. The Cast Members (CM) throughout the hotel were wonderful. Requests were speedy, service was always with a smile, and everyone truly went out of their way to make our stay magical and comfortable. We had an issue with our coffee maker and safe in our room on the first day. The housekeeping manger came to rectify the situation promptly and brought us brand new equipment. The last notable thing to mention about The Boardwalk resort from our stay are the modes of transportation to and from the parks. With a baby in tow, we wanted to select a hotel that would give us the most flexibility to not have to fold the stroller each time we wanted to use the resort transportation. Epcot and Hollywood Studios are walkable from the resort. You also have the option to take the Friendship Boats to both of those parks and the Skyliner to Hollywood Studios. Bus transportation would be required to get to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs which would require you to fold the stroller. We were very pleased with our first time stay at The Boardwalk Villas. We would definitely return again the future without a doubt!

Great rooms that are really spacious and have a lot to offer. The service was super fast anytime we…read moreneeded something. My biggest complaint is the layout of the resort. It feels like you have to walk a mile just to find an elevator, which got old pretty quickly. They're also very strict at the pool, so definitely make sure you follow the rules. Overall though, it's a really nice place to stay.

Great experience with Fairytale. Turned our home around. Would recommend Fairytale Vacation Rentalsread more

Clean, cozy, super cute and very close to all major attractions. Loved the playroom and big dining…read morearea!

This was one of the best vacations my family has ever had. We felt very at home in this house. It…read morehas four bedrooms plus a pull-out couch in the living room. Three full baths. Private pool. And a game room which was a lifesaver. So much fun for the kids and adults alike. There are USB outlets and electric Outlets within an Arm's Reach no matter where you are in the house. So much better than staying at a hotel.

This is the cleanest rest stop near Orlando. It's the perfect place to stop if you're headed that…read moreway!

Not much has changed in four years. The bathrooms are still clean and well stocked. It's well…read morelandscaped, with areas to picnic & walk your pets. There are working vending machines and local information.

The transportation and ticket center is the central transportation hub for magic kingdom. If you…read moredrove to Magic Kingdom, then you will end up here. The parking lot of Magic Kingdom is massive! This is my issue with it, its so large, that's fine, but they never have enough trams to pick up people. You end up waiting and then are jammed on the tram. Once you get to the front of the ticket center you have to go through security. This is another issue, they only have one line. There are so many people and one line! It's crazy! The ticket center also has ticket booths, but I would recommend buying your ticket ahead of time. Once you are past security you have three options to get to the parks: you can 1. Take the monorail to Magic Kingdom, 2. Take the Ferry Boat to Magic Kingdom or 3. Take the monorail to EPCOT. This is also the spot if you are park hoping from Magic to EPCOT or vice versa. You can also get to the monorail resorts from here. Overall this is fine, you kind of have no option if you drive to Magic Kingdom. Chances are you will go through here at some point. It's fine, its large and has all you need to get to the parks.

If you are visiting Magic Kingdom, then this is where you are headed. It is the only option if you…read moredrive, to get to Magic Kingdom. The transportation and ticket center is the main hub, it is attached to the parking lot which is giant. Once you get here, you have 3 options. 1. Take the monorail to Magic Kingdom 2. Take the Ferry Boat to Magic Kingdom 3. Take the monorail to EPCOT And then on really busy days or when there are issues with the Ferry or Monorail, they have buses to take you to Magic Kingdom. This is fine, there is not much to say about it. You have to come through here when you drive to Magic Kingdom. If you plan on ending the day at Magic Kingdom or EPCOT, (park hoping to both), I would suggest parking here. It is easy to hop via the monorail from Magic to EPCOT. You can also purchase tickets here but the lines are long in the morning. I would also recommend getting your tickets before heading to the park. They also have security checkpoint here, so you will go through security, but then when you get to the park you do not have to go through again, you have already done it. The security line can get long, they usually funnel everyone into one line which is slightly annoying. Its so large and so many people, they need to have multiple lines open. My real issue with this place is the parking. The parking lot is so large and the rows are so long. They never have enough trams taking you up to the ticket center. You end up having to wait forever in the morning and then again at night. You can walk but it can potentially be a really long walk depending on where you park. But you will see it if you drive to Magic Kingdom.

At present, Disney charges $17 per day for parking when going to one of their 4 major Parks (Magic…read moreKingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom) unless you are staying in an official Disney Resort or unless you have an annual pass which includes parking. $17 per day is a bit steep, then again, what at Disney isn't?! One way around having to pay the astronomical parking fee is to park at Downtown Disney and take one of their buses to one of their Resorts and then head to your Disney Park of choice. If you're heading to Magic Kingdom or Epcot, a good choice is to take a bus going to the Contemporary Resort because you can then take the monorail. If you're heading to Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom, a good choice would be Port Orleans. The buses at Marketplace at Downtown Disney do not start running until noon. If you want to get to a Park earlier than that, park at Pleasure Island (West Side) and you can catch at bus earlier. There are signs marked with which stop number to wait at for the bus you want. There are also Cast Members around to answer questions and help get you where you are wanting to be. The Disney bus transportation is great. The buses are comfortable and air conditioned. The drivers are safe and are generally very nice and friendly. Keep in mind the buses aren't going to go directly from the Marketplace to the end destination. They often have to stop at Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach and they will often have to stop at another resort as well. So just sit back and relax. There are times when the buses get extremely packed. It depends on the time of year, the time of day, and the resort you are staying at. The "economy" resorts are usually always packed and sometimes you may have to wait for a second bus to come because the first one may fill up. The buses do run very frequently. On average, you'll never have to wait more than 20 minutes for a bus, but sometimes, I see buses heading to the same place show up within minutes of one another. One thing I do hate is that here at the Marketplace they have taken out the benches, so now you have to stand and wait for the buses. They are still doing construction in the area, so I'm hoping they are going to be putting the benches back! Finally, I'd just like to remind all you men to have manners. If you see an elderly person, a pregnant woman, a mother holding a sleeping toddler, etc., then please, please, please, get your tail up and give the person your seat so they don't have to stand! I get so damn irritated on these buses because I see perfectly healthy young men sitting on their lazy, rude a$$es while some poor mother is holding a sleeping child in one arm and trying to hold on to the bus straps with her other hand. So, for goodness sakes, do the right thing!!

Disney Bus service is slow and very frustrating…read more They need a better and faster transit system. More monorails would be nice.

I stayed here with my two kids and one of their girlfriends. We stayed for a week in early…read moreSeptember. I was a little nervous as I did see some bad reviews posted somewhere regarding cleanliness but we had no such issue. Everything was nicely kept and we had a really nice vacation. There were a few items I had to reach out about (smoke alarm was dismantled and pool alarm not working) but they came quickly to look at it and got everything taken care of. The repair man was really nice and made sure we were good before he left. The location was great. We were a little away from all the touristy stuff so we didn't feel crowded everywhere we went but we were close to places of convenience and only about 20-30 minutes from any parks we wanted stop go to. I would absolutely recommend staying here and will use them again for future stays in the area.

DO NOT RENT 8955 Amelia Downs Trail in Kissimee from Shine Mgmt Co. My husband and I decided to…read moretake our grandkids on vacation to Disney prior to him starting treatment for cancer. We got to the property at 11:35PM on Wednesday night. It is also my husband and 2 of our grandbabies birthday we are celebrating. We walked in and saw ants. No big deal, we are in Florida and it's hot right a couple of ants is probably normal. I did a once over. The carpet dirty, there are spots all over the walls with some crayon areas as well and there it was. A roach or two. I immediatley said to my husband. This had better be an isolated thing.. We put the kids down and went to bed as i got up the next morning and came down stairs.. There were a few more roaches. Then we looked in the game room and more. I called Shine and she apologized stating they hadn't had any previous claims. My thought.. there is no way. As I am talking to her I look around and there are sticky traps in places. So immediately knew they lied. Now they did send an exterminator for "the areas" that they claim are affected but the whole house is affected. It's roaches everywhere. We took our clothes to the car and I emailed them today.. I think they are now ignoring us. My mom came and is handicap so we can't just leave but we have been out of the house most of the time but she has a wheelchair that was delivered for her to get around so leaving is a little harder than that. We will be out of here immediately but I want others to know! DO NOT rent this home from Shine until they can confirm the bugs and areas have been taken care of. DISGUSTING!!!!

This resort is beautiful and so unique. I swear I was amazed every single time I saw the monorail…read moredrive thru. My favorite part was probably the Mickey voice announcing floors in the elevator. It caught me off guard the first time and made me giggle every time after that. is a little more expensive than I would usually spend but I was taking a Disney Institute class in their convention center and I got a little bit of a discount. The room was nice! And I had some epic views from the 9th floor. I got to watch the Electrical Water Pageant from my room. My only complaint is that it was so loud. What are the acoustics in this place?? I could hear all the activities happening at the pool plus Chef Mickey's so clearly from my room with all the doors closed. There was still noise at 10:30 when I went to sleep. I don't normally stay at big resorts so maybe that is normal. Maybe just opt for one of the garden rooms if you want something a little quieter.

My dad wanted to go to Disney for his 80th birthday. So in all the times I've been to Disney, I…read morehaven't stayed "on property" since my first visit to WDW 53 years ago. We stayed on the 14th floor in the Presidential Suite. The room was amazing. The complimentary food was great. The family had a great time. The Disney staff is fantastic. Easy access to monorails and buses. Easy access for my dad's scooter. Short walk to the pool and water sports